Ellenabad, January 24
Abhey Singh Chautala, the newly elected MLA from Ellenabad, arrived to a tumultuous welcome in the town today. Accompanied by his elder brother Ajay Singh Chautala, legislator from Dabwali, former MLA Bhagi Ram, District president of the INLD Padam Jain and several other leaders, Abhey Singh went round the town in an open jeep.

His victory procession was stopped at several places in the market where he was garlanded by the people.

“I am indebted to you for electing me despite heavy pressure from the government. From now on, all your problems are mine and I will take care of all,” said Abhey Singh, while addressing people at every halt.

“Never mind if my party is not in power. I will raise your voice in the assembly and if the state government does not listen to that, I will lead an agitation on demands raised by you,” he assured the people. Talking to mediapersons, Abhey Singh said he was here to thank voters of Ellenabad town. He would undertake a tour of villages in February after the fog cleared.

Actors Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty would accompany him during the tour. “While campaigning, the actors had promised the villagers that they would return to thank them for the victory,” said Abhey Singh.

The newly elected MLA left for Delhi this evening to seek blessings of his father. Abhey Singh said he was likely to take oath as member of the assembly on January 27. 

Sirsa, January 24
Congress MLA from Nalwa Sampat Singh today ridiculed INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala’s demand for the resignation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda following the INLD’s Ellenabad victory.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he claimed that the Ellenabad result was a “moral victory” for the Congress and consequently defeat for the INLD.

“The Congress vote share has increased considerably in this election, while the INLD has not been able to gain anything from this election,” he maintained.

He said the Chautalas lost the moral battle the moment Om Prakash Chautala decided to quit the Ellenabad seat in favour of Uchana Kalan.

“The Ellenabad voters had elected Chautala by a huge margin of over 16,000 votes, but he vacated the seat for Uchana Kalan where he had won by a slender margin,” Sampat Singh said.

He said Chautala was wont to contesting from two seats as he was afraid of defeat. “This also provides him an opportunity to promote his clan, in case people elect him from both seats,” he added.

Sampat Singh maintained that the Hooda government was as firm as rock and would complete its term. 

Fatehabad, January 24
Indian American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died in US space shuttle Columbia mishap on February 1, 2003, had a fascination for stars since childhood.

As her seventh death anniversary draws near, her father Banarsi Lal Chawla went down memory lane. He mentioned extracts from a letter.

“Growing up in Karnal, some of my precious memories are sleeping under the stars in summer and being awed by the majesty of the night sky,” says a mail that Kalpana sent to Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi, when preparing for the space journey. “My mother pointed out the Milky Way and some of the constellations; I suspect sometimes we gazed for ever, without blinking for minutes. Something about the night stars causes us all, young and old, to ponder over the basic questions.

“In carrying the mementos for Nehru Planetarium, I would like to honour planetariums in general as they lead us beyond our little worlds to understand the big picture,” says the letter sent by the planetarium to the astronaut’s sister, Sunita, after her death. Banarsi Lal showed a letter from Angel Abbud-Madrid, MIST investigator from Colorado, expressing gratitude to Kalpana for helping him to carry out his experiment on January 27, 2003, the 12th day of Columbia’s flight. He wrote the letter on February 28, almost a month after her death. Showing the letter, Banarsi Lal said the test was to be performed on another astronaut but was abandoned due to a snag in the combustion module. Kalpana volunteered to perform the test during her off hours, sending jubilation in the NASA base office.

“Space is that difficult but inescapable exploration path to follow for the human race. In that pursuit, you carried not only the flags of India and the USA, but of every country and person with a common dream of discovery,” said the letter. “It may be that apparent transition from life to darkness is just a seamless flight from Earth to Space, from daylight to starlight. All of us are making that flight in different ships and at different times, but with the same destination.

“With that hope in mind, I am sure I will see you in Space sometime in future. Until then, shine a bright light on us every once in a while so we can see the road to get there,” concludes Angel. The Punjab Engineering College Old Boys Association is organising a function on January 31 at the Indian National Science Academy Auditorium, New Delhi, to pay homage to the astronaut. 

Karnal, January 24
A 24-year-old boy identified as Amit of New Prem Nagar Colony here was allegedly beaten by family members of his beloved and pushed down from a third-storeyed building that led to his death.

Amit and Rekha of the same locality were having an affair, but it was unacceptable to Rekha’s family members. They had even threatened the parents of Amit to stop their son from following their daughter.

On January 8, the girl’s parents allegedly called Amit inside their house on the pretext of talking about his marriage. However, as soon as he stepped into the house, he was brutally attacked by Sonu, girl’s brother, and other family members.

Later, they pushed Amit from the third floor of the building, causing multiple injuries. He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital and also taken to the PGI, Chandigarh, but his wounds were so grievous that he could not recover and succumbed to his injuries here today.

In charge of the city police station Randhir Singh said a case under Sections 307, 323, 342 and 34-A of the IPC was registered against Rekha and her family members. After Amit’s death, all of them had been booked for murder under Section 302 of the IPC. The police had arrested Sonu, but other family members were still absconding, he added.

Kishori Lal, father of the deceased, said he wanted that killers of his son should be punished.

Chandigarh, January 24
The general elections to Municipal Corporation, Faridabad; 10 municipal councils of Fatehabad, Tohana, Hansi, Jind, Narwana, Thanesar, Narnaul, Palwal, Sirsa and Sonepat and 28 municipal committees of Naraingarh, Charki Dadri, Ratia, Sohana, Barwala, Saffidon, Jhajjar, Gharaunda, Taraori, Assandh, Nissing, Shahabad (M), Ladwa, Pehowa, Cheeka, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Ferozepur Zhirka, Hodal, Punhana, Samalkha, Bawal, Meham, Kalanwali, Ellenabad, Rania, Gohana and Ganaur will be held in April and May.

Stating this here today, State Election Commissioner, Haryana, Dharam Vir said the commission had issued notification for the preparation and revision of electoral rolls of these civic bodies.

The electoral rolls were to be prepared on the basis of Assembly electoral rolls finally published on January 22, 2009, with qualifying date as on January 1, 2009, along with all supplements carried out by the Election Commission of India and also the existing rolls of these civic bodies.

Dharam Vir said the Deputy Commissioners had been directed to ensure the names of those persons, who became eligible on January 1, 2010, be included in the draft electoral rolls of the civic bodies concerned while preparing draft electoral rolls.

He said the process of preparation of draft electoral rolls would start from tomorrow(January 25).

For inviting claims and objections, the draft of the rolls would be published on February 10.

All Deputy Commissioners had been directed to host the draft electoral rolls on the website of the district administration also.

Any person can file claims and objections for including and deleting their names in the electoral rolls with the revising authority concerned by February 20. Claims and objections would be disposed of by the revising authority by February 25.

He said an appeal against the orders of the revising authority would be filed with the Deputy Commissioner concerned by March 2 and the appellate authority would dispose of the same, if any, by March 12. The final publication of electoral rolls of these municipalities would be done on March 22. 

Rewari, January 24
Commander Babru Bhan Yadav, Mahavir Chakra awardee from the Ahirwal region, died at his residence in Noida (UP) on January 22. He was 83.

BB Yadav, who was born at Bharawas village, near Rewari, in 1926, joined the Indian Navy in 1948. Commissioned in 1951, he did specialisation in torpedo and anti-submarine warfare in the UK during 1955-57.

Later, he received missile training in USSR in 1969-70 and returned to India in January 1971 when he became Squadron Commander of a division of ships which formed part of the task.